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Archive for Avoiding Foreclosure
Dec
24
Avoiding Foreclosure
Posted by: | CommentsIt isn’t news to anyone that widespread foreclosures are a large problem in our current real estate market. For many families, it can be unavoidable. However, what many people don’t know is that there is help out there for those facing foreclosure. Here are some things to keep in mind:
•Stay Home – When facing foreclosure, stay in your home. If you vacate your property and something happens to it – whether it be vandalized, struck by lightning or broken into – the bank will likely hold you financially responsible for the damages.
•Stay in the Loop – Talk to your lender. If you feel like you’re going to have trouble making next month’s mortgage payment, let them know. Whenever you phone them, follow up your contact in writing. If your lender is more informed of your situation, they will be better prepared – and perhaps more willing – to work with you.
•Stay Realistic – Remember that lenders are a business and they are always interested in making their money back whenever possible. Ironically, banks are less willing to work with those who have made payments for years and built up equity on their home. In those cases, the lender can simply keep the payments they’ve already received and sell the house quickly for considerably less than it’s worth and still turn a profit. If you haven’t been in your home for very long and you haven’t built up a lot of equity, then your lender might be more willing to come to an agreement that benefits you both.
•Stay Safe – Unfortunately, this market has attracted a slew of dishonest scammers and con artists that prey on desperate home-owners. Always – always – do your research whenever you think about getting help from a company or program. Watch out for anyone who insists on being paid upfront. Don’t pay somebody to do something that you could do for free, such as dealing directly with your lender. The Department of Housing and Urban Development keeps track of legitimate foreclosure-prevention programs. Get a list from them.
•Stay Practical – Not all foreclosure-prevention programs will be the answer to your prayers. Many programs offer one-time solutions, often for a single month’s payment. Carefully think about your situation and make sure that such a temporary solution will really make a difference in the long run. It may just be delaying the inevitable.
Sometimes foreclosure is simply unavoidable but there are many times when help can be found as long as you know where to look. Do your research, call an expert, and find out as much as you can about your options for possibly avoiding foreclosure on your home.
Dec
23
Foreclosure Info – Tips For Avoiding Foreclosure Scams
Posted by: | CommentsAs foreclosures are on the rise, so are the scams that commit to “rescuing” the homeowner from losing their home to foreclosure. These scams just steal your hard earned money, destroy your credit record and eliminate any equity you might have in your home.
These foreclosure con artists use people who are dire financial straits. They know these people are desperate and are grasping at straws for answers to their foreclosure situation. People to target for these scams are not hard to seek out as mortgage lenders publish notices before foreclosing on homes. These con artists read these notices then contact their victims quite often even in person but more commonly by mail, phone or by email. They even go so far as to advertise their services on web sites. They make themselves sound official by giving them impressive titles like “foreclosure consultant” or “mortgage consultant.” They may call their services “foreclosure service or “foreclosure rescue agency.”
If you are facing foreclosure, contact your mortgage lender or any legitimate financial counselor to help you find legitimate options to avoid foreclosure. It is imperative that you carefully check the credentials, reputation and experience of anyone offering to arrange to stop or delay your foreclosure for a fee. The following recommendations can help protect you:
WATCH OUT FOR THESE FORECLOSURE RESCUE SCAMS
Lease-Back or Repurchase Scams – Someone offers to pay off your mortgage and rent you residence back to you. This usually involved signing over the deed of your home to the individual. This will give the person the ability to evict you, raise the rent, sell the house or steal your equity. You are still responsible for the mortgage so if the individual doesn’t make the payment, your house still gets foreclosed on and you face the legal consequences.
Refinance Fraud – Someone acts as a mortgage broker or lender and offers to refinance your loan to a lower payment. They make you believe you are signing the documents for a new loan when in actuality you are signing over the ownership of your home. This opens you up to the situation as above.
Bankruptcy Schemes – Several scams try to abuse the bankruptcy laws. These are complicated schemes, so it is important to always thoroughly investigate anyone offering to help you with your bankruptcy. Anytime someone wants you to sign over ownership of your home, be very cautious.
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM SCAMS
Always know what you are signing – It is important that you thoroughly read and understand what you are signing. Obtain advice if a document is too complex. Do not sign anything with blank spaces, errors or incorrect information even if someone promises to fix things later.
Get everything in writing – Verbal agreements are usually not legally binding. It is important that you get any promises or agreements in writing to protect yourself. Be sure to keep copies of anything you sign.
Make your mortgage payments directly to your lender or the mortgage servicer – Do not trust anyone else to make mortgage payments for you.
Be cautious about signing over your deed – Scams quite often require you to sign over your deed. Always get the advice of a lawyer or financial advisor before doing so. You do not want to lose your rights to your residence and any equity that you may have.
Report any suspicious activity to the Federal Trade Commission and to your state and local consumer protection agencies – This helps to prevent others from becoming victims.
HOW DO I FIND LEGITIMATE HELP FOR YOUR FINANCIAL PROBLEMS
Contact your lender as soon as you think you are unable to make your mortgage payment.
Contact a legitimate housing or financial counselor to help you work through your financial problems.
For more information about foreclosure and how to potentially stop loan foreclosure, visit www.stoploanforeclosure.net.
Dec
20
How To Avoid Foreclosure Proceedings?
Posted by: | CommentsThe list of various methods to stop foreclosure that is presented below is a nearly comprehensive accounting of the most common ways homeowners can use to save their homes, either by staying in them and avoiding foreclosure, or by getting out of a bad situation with as much of their financial lives intact as possible. There are really no magical ways to end the foreclosure process — but there are enough tools that homeowners have available, that they can choose from a number of options to help them out of their hardship situations.
1. Save up and get current on the mortgage by paying back the payments you’ve missed, plus the interest, late fees, attorney fees, etc. Understand that there are often thousands of dollars of extra charges that are added once you start missing payments and especially if the lender hires a law firm to pursue the foreclosure.
2. Work with the lender to put together a repayment plan, which would require you to put down part of the amount you are behind now and pay back the rest over a period of months, along with you current monthly payment. Usually, repayment plans can be worked out through your lender’s loss mitigation department, and will result in you paying almost twice as much per month as your regular mortgage payment. This is to help you get caught up on the payments you missed while you are paying your original monthly obligation.
3. Work with the lender to modify the terms of the loan to say that the missed payments are spread out over the life of the loan or put on the back end of the loan. This is called a mortgage modification or loan modification. Some lenders will not do this because they do not hold the paper to be able to modify it. This is especially true for mortgage servicing companies, who only service their loans and collect payments, but who do not own the loans.
4. Refinance — find a hard money lender or traditional lender that will consider foreclosure refinance loans. Qualifications include lots of equity and lots of income, since your interest rate will probably be over 10%. Foreclosure refinance loans can be difficult to qualify for and may result in higher monthly payments, but they are a good way for homeowners to get a fresh start with a new note and new lender.
5. If you have an FHA loan, you can get a one-time loan from the FHA that will bring you current and is placed as a lien on the property that you would have to pay back if you sell or refinance the home. This is called a partial claim. You would have to contact the FHA directly for this one time payout to get you caught back up on your mortgage.
6. Sell to a private investor or friend/family member and lease/rent the property back from them. That clears off the foreclosure loan on the property and uses someone else’s good credit to get a new loan and allows you to stay in the property. Investors can also work out short sales on properties, allow they usually do this in the hope of flipping the property by reselling it quickly at a profit.
7. Bankruptcy will stop the foreclosure process, but is usually an expensive alternative to setting up a repayment plan, mentioned above. Attorney fees, trustee fees, court costs, and high monthly payments cause a lot of people to fail their bankruptcies. Only consider bankruptcy if you desperately want to prevent foreclosure and if you have a significant amount of income you can dedicate towards the bankruptcy payments.
8. Short sales are a good option if you owe more on the property than it is currently worth. A short sale means the bank accepts less than what they are actually owed, and would allow you to get out of the loan, at least. The bank would not be able to come after you for the rest of the loan amount, since, by accepting a lower amount, they forgive the rest of the debt owed on the mortgage.
9. Sell outright if the property is worth enough and you have a willing and able buyer. List the house yourself of through a local real estate broker. In some cases, it is the right decision just to unload the house to stop foreclosure and focus on repairing your credit until you can purchase a new, more affordable home in a few years.
10. If 1-9 do not work, you can offer the bank a deed in lieu of foreclosure, which means you’re voluntarily giving the property back to the bank and they are agreeing that the property is payment in full of the loan. This is not much better than a foreclosure, and you have to leave the property anyway, but it will prevent the sheriff sale and eviction process. The bank will not be able to ask for any extra money or sue you for a deficiency judgment, because they accept the property itself as satisfaction of the loan.
11. If 1-10 do not work, you can just move out and walk away and forget about the property. This is definitely not recommended if you care about your credit and plan to borrow money for several years, but foreclosure should teach you not to rely on banks to help you out when you face a hardship. All they really do is promise great deals when you think of going with them, and then throw you to the foreclosure dogs if you miss a payment. Many homeowners simply walk away because the foreclosure situation is so intimidating, but, as listed above, there are numerous options that are better than just giving up on the property.
Those are the most common options that can be used to stop foreclosure. There are a few others (suing your bank, etc.), but they involve much more cost and legal involvement and may not end up stopping the foreclosure process in the end.
Good luck.
ForeclosureFish
Dec
19
Does Foreclosure Assistance Companies Really Help In Avoiding Foreclosure?
Posted by: | CommentsOnly if there is some profit in doing so to them. Unfortunately, most are a scam. They will get an upfront out of pocket fee from you & then you will find yourself in no better a position than you were before you paid them their scam fee. (How they make money & stay in business)
You might be better off to call your lender and ask for a loan modification. If you don’t qualify for one now, ask what it will take to qualify for one.
Dec
14
Please tell me any experiences you have had with this or any other good programs that are similar.